The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

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Mr Shorten said the government didn't believe employees should have lower protections because they were doing outsourced work.

The coalition opposed the measure, with Liberal Paul Fletcher warning it could make it harder for sacked public servants to get jobs.

There were likely to be "unintended consequences".

"Employers are likely to say it makes more sense for us to seek out somebody else to work for us rather than this person who comes ... with certain terms and conditions attached to their re-employment," he said.

The Fair Work Amendment (Transfer of Business) Bill 2012 was passed by a single vote after a tied vote on the original division.

Speaker Anna Burke then ruled that debate should continue, which allowed a second vote to be taken shortly afterwards.